After honing it down, here is the final version of my wardrobe. This does not include running/exercise clothes, workshop/gardening clothes, sleeping or lounging clothes (clothes I will not wear outside the house even for shopping or errands), socks, or underwear. If you total those in the number would at least triple. The purpose of this exercise was to create a coherent coordinated set of clothing that I could choose from every day. My goal was to keep the items that I liked best, went best together, were the most versatile and that were the best quality. There has been one pending casualty. My blue Nautica Polo shirt has been worn so often and laundered so often that it’s sprung a hole that I fear will not be mended, but I’m going to try. If not, I have a replacement waiting in the wings.

Brown dress shoes

Black dress shoes

Black sneakers

Hiking shoes

Columbia Rain Jacket

Patagonia shorts – bought this season

Yoga shorts – bought this season

Light Blue Shorts

Belt

Tie (down from 3 ties: I actually don’t wear ties but this is if I need to)

Blue Blazer (also more of an if I need to wear it item)

Jeans

Grey woolen pants

Blue woolen pants

Patagonia Hiking pants – bought this season

White merino tee – bought this season

Grey merino tee – bought this season

Nautica blue polo

Land’s End Black Polo

Land’s end brown polo

Woolrich wool shirt

Sweat Shirt

Patagonia vest – Gift from in-laws

Dress Shirt – I rotate two per week and bring to the cleaners weekly

Dress Shirt

Dress Shirt

Dress Shirt

Nautica shirt – Gift from daughter

Hat – Gift from sister

Grey Merino Midweight Sweater

Umbrella

Sunglasses – 10th Anniversary! Rayban Wayfarers last forever.

Currently there is no #33 but I can add something.

This made packing for a recent trip easy. Literally, I took everything minus the work/dress items and put them in my suitcase along with socks, underwear and running clothes.

Again to clarify, I have other clothing for fall and winter in storage and they get rotated out in SEPT and DEC respectively. I also have spares that will rotate in if something is hopelessly stained or worn out. Why don’t I just put them into my drawers? Because it simplifies the process of choosing my clothes and because this is an experiment in voluntary simplicity. I’m not yet ready to give away everything not in my Project 33 wardrobe. Also, I have some clothing that I’ve reserved for when I lose weight and need to switch to a smaller size.

I developed the habit of shredding everything in my office including envelopes. I would then dutifully dump it into a brown paper grocery bag and walk it to the paper recycling bin. The new protocol will be to only shred what is confidential. I’m not even sure that shredded paper does more harm than good. I want to avoid what the NY Times called “aspirational recycling” where you put it in the bin and hope it is either recyclable or some person or machine will remove it if it isn’t. Because of purity standards, contamination can lead to rejection of and landfilling of entire batches of recycled goods.

This article Chinese Paper Contamination says that Chinese standards are now .5 percent contaminated before rejection. So, throwing in food or plastic or pizza boxes is going to render all the recycling as landfill. Perhaps shredded paper will add to that problem. Plastic coated coffee cups, milk containers coated with wax or plastic, juice boxes unfortunately definitely will contaminate the batch.

I recently discovered Bea Johnson’s Zero Waste Home. I ordered the book thru the library (of course) and have been reading her blog Zero Waste Home and watched some of the many videos related to this concept on Youtube. I took the first small step today by bringing my Yeti cup. I had read that coffee cups are not recyclable because they have both plastic and paper.

It was a pleasant surprise when I saw that I got ten cents off for bringing my own cup. I look at this as an all-around win. I get the coffee, get the savings, don’t throw out a cup into a landfill, and have a better container to drink my coffee in. It stays hot longer. It transports more easily.

In other small steps –

I unplugged the small refrigerator in the basement. It contains some soda, but I really don’t drink soda and certainly don’t need to use the energy to cool it. If I want to drink something I can walk up a flight of stairs and get water.

I raised the humidity level on the dehumidifier from 35 to 50 which should still inhibit mold growth but use less energy.

I measured the water temperature in my hot water heater. It was 125. 120 F should be enough to kill Legionella without wasting energy or risking scalds.

I began to use the Mason Jars to store food instead of in essentially open bags. I hope that will preserve it (hazelnuts) and lead to less waste.

The past couple of days I’ve been using plastic utensils that go into the dishwasher for my lunch at work. I’ve also been bringing hankies instead of using paper napkins and today I retrieved my two bandanas from the storage area to use for this purpose.

I found the concept of waste reduction appealing. Lately, with the political chaos, I’ve felt like things were more out of control than usual and I felt that if I could reduce my own use, carbon footprint, and waste production I was taking at least some small but tangible step towards regaining control.

I don’t plan to be “zero-waste” and I think few people will. I do plan though to be more aware of what I use and what I discard.

I modified my old trail bike into an every day commuting bike. I replaced the Fat knobby tires with 1 1/2 inch city tires. I put on headlights and tail lights for visibility. I took off the SPD petals and put on flats. I added fenders. And finally I Put on a bell.